Shell shuts down Nigeria’s first deepwater oil field

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited, on Monday, said it had shut down production from Bonga field to enable it commence turnaround maintenance.

SNEPCo said in a statement that executing the statutory activities would ensure continuous optimum operations at the deep-water field, which began producing in November 2005.

According to the oil major, the field was shut down on March 4, 2017, and is expected to resume at the conclusion of the exercise next month.

The Managing Director, SNEPCo, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, was quoted as saying, “The exercise will help ensure sustained production and reduced unscheduled production deferments. This is the fourth turnaround maintenance since Bonga began production.”

A major focus of the turnaround maintenance, according to SNEPCo, is the Bonga Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessel, which is at the heart of Bonga operations.

The Bonga FPSO has the capacity to produce 225,000 barrels of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, it said.